Improvement in oatmeal-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

SAMUEL F. BUTTS, OF RAVENNA, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE QUAKER MILL COMPANY,OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN OATMEAL-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 217,844, dated July 22,1879; application filed March 3, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL F. Burrs, of Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio,have invented new and useful Improvements in Oatmeal- Machines, of whichthe following is a specifi-' cation.

My invention relates to that class of oatmeal-machines in which the oatsare cut into a coarse meal.

The object of my invention is to cut the oats which lie in longitudinalgrooves on the circumference of a rotating cylinder by a morerapidly-rotating cylinder having radial cuttin g-edges, which enterannular grooves in the first-mentioned cylinder.

Figure l is a plan. Fig. 2 is a vertical section.

The shafts 2' a" of cylinders c a turn in the frame, the power beingapplied to pulley p. The two shafts i i are connected by gearwheels 20w. Cylinder g rotates to the left, and cylinder a, to the right.Cylinder a has its circumference grooved longitudinally, and alsoannularly. The longitudinal groovesc are to hold the oats lyinglengthwise in them. The annular grooves c are slightly deeper thangrooves c, and are sufficiently narrow to prevent the oats from enteringthem.

The teeth or knives 8, arranged annularly on cylinder a, enter grooves0'. Cylinder a rotates much more rapidly than cylinder to, causingknives s, which project into grooves 0, below the bottom of grooves c,to cut the oats. The shaft of cylinder a is higher than the shaft ofcylinder to, causing the knives s to cut the oats before the rotation ofcylinder a has carried the oats down far enough for them to fall out ofgrooves c.

The lower or cutting edges of knives's are at such an angle to theradius of cylinder a that when the knives are cutting their edges willbe in line, or nearly so, with the radius of cylinder at.

The oats are fed on cylinder a by the hopper h. Between the hopper andknives s the guard 00, attached to frame f, extends diagonally the wholelength of cylinder a, close to its circumference. The function of guard00 is to force oats lengthwise into grooves c, and prevent any which arenot in that position from passing the guard to the knives. For thispurpose the guard :12 is set diagonally across grooves c, in whichposition it does not sever kernels standing upright, but acts as a camto force the upper ends of the kernels lengthwise of and into grooves c.

The toothed guard e, attached to, frame j, extends the whole length ofcylinder a, and its teeth enter grooves c to clear them of meal. In theplace of rotating cylinder a and its knives s, stationary knives may beused, with their cutting-edges at right angles, or nearly so, with theradius of cylinder a.

I claim as my invention- The rotating feeding-cylinder a, provided withcircumferential grooves c and longitudinal grooves c, and the stationarycamguard 00, arranged diagonally across the fecdinggrooves c, incombination with the rotating cylinder it, provided with knives 8,arranged annularly on the cylinder, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

SAMUEL F. BUTTS.

Witnesses:

BRADFORD HOWLAND, H. D. SEYMOUR.

